baby does not equal consistency

So, I only had one night of the 7 hour sleep. After that, it was 6 hours and then 5. It could be due to that little cold she had which is still tapering off. Or it could be due to the fact that she is a baby. :) Tomorrow we leave for Minneapolis for a long weekend. Hopefully Fay will travel well, sleep well and not catch another cold. Even I have trouble staying healthy during plane travel.

The fabled Seven Hour Stretch

When we were in Florida with Ryan's family over the holidays we left Fay with her grandparents for New Years Eve -- for the entire night. It was during this night that Fay decided to sleep for 7 hours straight for Grandma. Or so Grandma told us. Once we returned to NYC Fay was not sleeping more than 5 hours for her longest stretch. AND the 5 hours was followed by 1.5 hours segments. Not a good night's sleep for mom.

I think little Fay caught a little cold on her trip to Florida and that was causing her not to sleep well once we returned. It wasn't a bad cold, but enough to wake her up frequently during the night.

THEN! all of a sudden, last night, my little star of a sleeper returned. She slept SEVEN hours straight, followed by a brief 1/2 hour feeding and then another 4 hours of sleep. WOW! With that schedule I could almost go to bed at a regular adult time. (For the past week I've been going to bed at 8 or 9 to catch as many zzzzs as possible)

We are heading to Mpls on Friday for a long weekend so Fay can meet her cousins, grandpa and Gumpa (Ron). I wanted this trip to happen sooner than later so when we return to nyc we can work on a consistent sleep schedule (not rigid, but fairly predictable). Right now she is still sleeping in her carseat (oh my!) instead of the crib. So we would like to move her to the crib asap.

We actually started putting Fay in the crib during the first 3 or so weeks of her life. But then something happened -- perhaps the Friend's Thanksgiving weekend where we noticed she was sleeping for longer stretches in the car seat. I chalked it up to the carseat being set at a slight incline (more comfortable that flat on the back), and the carseat being small and cozy. When Fay kicks out in the carseat she meets with resistance which is more similar to being in the womb.

But the time has come for the crib, because if we are going to expect her to sleep through the night we have to get her in the crib first. Anyway, that is the next little goal. She usually takes her hour long morning nap in the crib and does pretty well. So at this point I don't expect it to be a big deal (fingers crossed!)

xmas vacation and eye contact!

Fay, Ryan and I just returned from a wonderful xmas vacation with Ryan's family in Ft. Lauderdale. We took a slew of photos as well as some video. My favorite photo is of Fay in a little beach bonnet and suit.

We spent the first week in a condo in Ft. Lauderdale, not too far from Uncle Andy's condo. Fay celebrated her first xmas by eating and sleeping. Oh and by participating in many photo shoots.



Then we took a car trip up to New Smyrna to stay at Ryan's grandma's condo. We visited with Ryan's Great Aunt Betty while we were there. That would be Fay's Great-Great Aunt Betty!

At dinner in New Smyrna


We learned quickly that Fay does not like long car rides. Living in NYC, we haven't had to deal with cars much. And I have always heard that babies LOVE car rides. Granted, the rides went a little smoother once I learned to bring a bottle of milk along, but Fay still let us know that she'd rather be held than sit in a car seat.



We finished off the week with babysitting duty for the grandparents and a night on the town in Miami for the new parents. I managed to get a cold during the last few days of vacation, so my big night out was not as exhilarating as I had hoped for. But I still had a good time popping cold medication and having a few drinks. Ryan and I saw some great jazz and finished up the year on the beach, celebrating with a great mix of party-goers, families and beach bums. Great people watching (not to mention the fireworks).

The weather was glorious the entire week. So we got a lot of beach time and golf time. Fay really wanted to watch her daddy golf. But apparently there are age restrictions on who can ride in the golf carts. So Fay may not be able to see daddy golf until her 5th birthday.

The highlights of the week would be seeing Fay "swim" for the first time. When put on her tummy she knows how to lift her heavy head up and out of the water. We think she is a natural swimmer. She also gave some very cute kicks that looked like swimming.



Also, Fay started giving consistent eye contact and smiles. There was a tease of this before the vacation but nothing really you could count on.

Smiles for Uncle Andy

Now, Fay looks at you when she notices you and will smile several times a day. Very cute! And very rewarding for mom to feel that Fay now knows who I am (previously known only as the food source).

(You can see all the vacation photos in the Flickr set here: Vacation Set)

First shots

Fay got her first immunization shots today. She is 8 weeks as of yesterday so she was scheduled for her 2 months shots. I wanted to schedule them a number of days ahead of our xmas trip so if there was a bad reaction, we would be in town to deal with it.

Fay has been a really good baby so far. Not much crying at all. Not much fussing either. She just squawks a little when she wakes up for food or when she wants to be held and is not getting enough mommy or daddy time. Today I got to hear her real cry. It took about 2 seconds for the prick of the needle to affect her. Then she let out a terrible cry. Of course it broke my heart. And she still had two shots to go. :(

After the shots I put her back in the Baby Bjorn and she crashed to sleep right away. All was well through another feeding and another brief nap until she awoke and started crying inconsolably. It didn't help that mommy was out of the house and therefore there was no consoling boob to be found. Daddy tried to console with the bottle which was a fairly good temporary solution. But once the boob found its way home, Fay finally settled down. I also gave her a little baby Tylenol as suggested by the doctor in case of fever.

She is now put to bed, and sleeping well. I was told she could be irritable after the shots, and clearly she was. Hopefully it will not be a long lasting irritability.

If you can't trust your doctor...

Well we had a little setback this week. I went in for my 6 week checkup last week and was given a prescription for birth control pills from my doctor. We discussed the fact that while breast feeding I have to use the "mini-pill" which does not contain estrogen. A pill with estrogen will reduce your milk supply and sometimes dry it up completely.

I took the pill for three days. After the 2nd day Fay had a particularly fussy day. She wouldn't sleep all day and she only slept 4.5 hours instead of her normal 6 hours at night. I tried to pump some milk and noticed that there was hardly any to pump. So I checked my birth control pill and looked online for information.

Sure enough, my doctor had prescribed the wrong birth control pill!!! He gave me the one with estrogen. Unbelievable. I confirmed it was not a pharmacy mistake and then I called my doctor to yell at him. I was pissed. He apologized but not with enough emotion for me. He said "I pressed the wrong button on the computer. It was a computer malfunction". Computer Malfunction?!!!

I told him that I thought he had been dismissive of some of my questions at the visits including asking about alternative birth control. And I told him I could no longer be his patient. His response? "You gotta do what you gotta do. I apologize profusely" (again, no emotion).

Now I'm waiting to my regular milk supply to return. I *think* it is building back up. But last night worried me because I nursed Fay to the point where there was no more milk and then Ryan got home and gave her a bottle of expressed milk (from before the incident) and she sucked down the whole 3 oz!

It seems every year I get new reasons to questions those around me. I hate to become cynical or mistrustful. But that seems to be the safer thing to do.

Andy's visit

I've been remiss in not posting about Uncle Andy's visit. Andy visited a week ago -- the weekend after thanksgiving. Even though we will be going to FL to celebrate xmas with Andy in a couple weeks he couldn't wait that long to see Fay. Awwww. Well, let me tell you, it was an exciting NYC weekend for Andy. He arrived on Friday and Ryan took him out for a late dinner. Saturday we hung around the house with Fay. And Saturday night we all went to a neighborhood pizza place for dinner. Fay got a snuggled up in her fleece footy outfit, slept for 1/2 the meal, nursed a little at the restaurant and then slept for 5 hours. That was the first of the previously mentioned sleep shift that I mentioned in the previous post. Andy left on Sunday morning. So it was a brief visit. But we will see him again and all the Janssens at xmas for 10 day! Fay and I are looking forward to that.

Here is a photo of Andy's visit:

5 hour sleep = bliss

First off, Happy 6 week birthday to Fay. Today marks 6 weeks since she came into our world. I've been reading that 6 week marks the time when infants start to become more socially aware AND begin to sleep for longer periods during the night (5-6 hours). Well, like clockwork Fay has slept a 5 hour stint for the past 3 nights. And last night she slept 5 hours, was up for 1/2 hour and then slept another 4 hours!!. That equals about 8 hours combined sleep for mom! It actually means a lot more than than:

1. I only have to get up once in the night.
2. The night waking is brief so it is easier for me to return to sleep.
3. The "night" period lasts a shorter amount so my day can start earlier.

This last point is important but not necessarily obvious to those not living in my sleeping world. With the previous cycle of multiple wakings throughout the night and 2-3 hours sleep periods, it would be noon by the time I caught up on 7 hours of sleep because of the additional wakeful periods during the night. This makes it feel like you are much more of a slave to the wee one's schedule since you cannot hope to schedule anything for the morning -- not even a shower!

Lets hope Fay continues this trend. It makes mommy a well rested and less cranky person. :)

I also have to write about Uncle Andy's visit to town, but I haven't uploaded the photos yet. That will come next..